Burning Love of Justice!

by Ventanus

My idea of Bell entering Orario during the Dark times, it isn t a full Ero story, but there will be plenty of naughty stuff. Harem setting.

3. Night Raid

Author`s Note: Hey everyone, I´m happy that people like this here turning into a real story. Like I wrote, while there will be plenty of naughty stuff, not every chapter will have it. Like this here for example.

.

.

.

.

.

Kaguya returned home and witnessed a strange scene. Her familia had a party, which wasn´t unusual, but they were all over Bell for some reason.

"What´s going on? Repeating the incident again?"

She had one of her usual naughty smirks on her lips.

Alise smiled brightly. "Bell received an enormous amount of money from his aunt and "uncle", he decided to pay off all our debts."

"Oho? For what reason?"

Bell smiled. "Because I wanted to make you all happy. The biggest part of the money will be used to help the people in Orario."

"Hmmm..."

Kaguya walked close to Bell.

"Kaguya?"

She looked at him for a few seconds, then she grabbed his shirt, pulled him close and stole his lips.

Kaguya leaned back, licked her lips slightly and smirked like a cat. "Thank you, honey.~~"

Honey was one of Bell´s nicknames that Kaguya used. The other was "Peasant", but Kaguya only used that one when she was in a lusty mood.

All of the members of his familia had a special nickname for Bell, just like he had for most of them already. He called Ryu his "Fairy" or sometimes "Fairy Princess". Fromt he others it was teasing and a joke to call Ryu their princess, but from Bell it felt nice. She knew it was one of his dreams since he was a child to meet an elven princess.

One of Kaguya´s nicknames was "Milady", but only during the time when she called him Peasant, it was part of the play. At first it was a bit embarrassing for Bell, but he loved Kaguya the way she was.

"Hmmm~~~ I wonder what I shall give you in return?~~"

Alise grinned. "We all gave Bell a wish for one day."

"Hmm~~ Sounds good. I will give you the same, honey. You can wish whatever you want from me for one day. Whatver. It. Is."

She said the last three words very suggestive, then she leaned closer and whispered into Bell´s ear, just loud enough so that Ryu and Neze could understand what Kaguya said.

"No matter how naughty it will be.~~~"

Kaguya smirked while she whispered that and looked at Ryu, the elf of course got extremly embarrassed again. Even more when Kaguya kissed Bell again, making sure that Ryu saw how Kaguya moved her tongue in Bell´s mouth. The far eastern girl loved it to tease her rival and make her embarrassed.

Alise of course just continued in her usual tone, completly oblivious to Kaguya´s teasing.

"Oh and Ardee joined our familia, you know because of the skill she told us about. Now we will become even stronger, the unstoppable and just force of justice!"

"Hm, I won´t complain, we might need that strength soon."

All of them noticed how Kaguya became serious again after giving Bell the second kiss.

Astrea looked a bit worried.

"What do you mean, Kaguya?"

"I got some information about the things I was sent to investigate."

"And?"

"You won´t like what I have to say, Lady Astrea."

"Please tell us."

Kaguya nodded and started her report.

"I managed to eavesdrop on some shady figures, some of them amazons from the Ishtar familia. I don´t know to which group the others belonged, but they were talking about some busniness that will happen tonight. They want to sell some things to the Ishtar familia, illegal goods and...people."

A collective noise came from the Astrea familia, including their goddess. Selling people meant slavery and there were only a few things more disgusting than slavery.

Kaguya continued. Thankfully one of the shady guys was a complete idiot and talked about all the important information that Kaguya needed. Apparently they thought they were smart, had talked with the Ishtar familia about business, but not where it should happen. They only wanted to tell them mere hours before the deal would be done, so that the good familias in Orario had no time to react.

Normally this would´ve been a smart move, but to their bad luck, Kaguya was there.

"Kaguya you know I don´t like to ask this question, but you are one hundred percent sure that this is an illegal activity of the whole Ishtar familia and not just some members of them?"

"I saw Aisha Belka and Lena Tally."

Both were members of the Berbera, sixteen and twelf years old, already pretty high ranked members in the familia. Aisha was a fresh level three, Lena a fresh level two.

"Hm, the Berbera..."

"And while I didn´t see her, I felt the presence of a giant toad. I even heard this disgusting "Gegegegege..." sound."

All of them knew who that was.

"Androctonus? She was there too?"

Kaguya nodded. "No chance I mistook that thing for something else."

"So that could only mean two things. Either it is the whole familia and Ishtar´s order. Or they all went rogue and do what they want. Both options aren´t good."

"What shall we do, Milady?"

They knew what happened when Kaguya called their goddess like this, she asked the Lady of Justice, not their kind goddess.

Astrea looked at Kaguya with serious eyes. "Slave trading, illegal and dangerous goods and crime in general?"

"Yes, they even talked about something special, but never stated what it is."

"And it happens tonight?"

"In an hour they start."

Astrea looked at her followers, all of them returned her gaze.

"We have to cancel the party, arm yourselves. I will go and inform Ganesha, you all are to act. Alise, you have the commando."

""""""""Understood!"""""""""

The good mood was gone immediatelly, all of them went to their rooms and put on their armors and weapons. Since it was a serious situation, Bell went for his full armor set, helmet and cape alike.

Orario was still recovering from the dark times, they wouldn´t allow evil and crime to take root again. Not one of them took the Ishtar familia lightly, Phryne Jamil was a fresh level five, so even Bell and Alise would´ve problems against her. They also had a few level four and three members. While it was likely that the whole familia acted on their goddess´ order, it wasn´t likely that they all would be there tonight, it would be too risky, they could be spotted.

So if they had to fight Phryne, Lena, Aisha and a few others, they should strike swift and hard, taking out as much of the Ishtar familia as possible.

All of them met again in the living room.

"Noin, Iska, you two escort Lady Astrea to Lord Ganesha, we won´t risk letting her go alone in Orario at night."

""Understood.""

"Kaguya, lead us there, then you will act from the shadows, take Lion with you."

Both nodded. Alise gave out orders to everyone, making sure that the members who could use healing magic were spread out among the small groups.

Bell would move with Ardee and Alise. Alise and Bell were completly unable to sneak and fight like this, both had a more bombastic fighting style and would attack from the front. Asta and Neze would go with Maryuu, also attacking openly from the other side, the others would´ve various positions. Lyra would make sure that no one escaped, while Ryana and Celty would give magic support from behind, blasting away what would be necessary.

"Make sure you all make it back safely."

"I won´t promise you anything, Lady Astrea."

Alise was pretty serious about this, she would do her best to lead them all as good as possible. But they all knew that Astrea was a little superstitious, the goddess believed that promissing everyone would make it back safe and alive, would challenge luck and fate.

The gods called that "Raising a death flag" and Astrea strictly forbid her followers to ever do that.

Noin and Iska left with Astrea as quiet as possible, all of them covered by dark capes and hoods, they wouldn´t risk anything with their beloved goddess.

Alise looked at the others, all of them wore capes and hoods for now.

"Let us go."

.

.
Orario was nevver fully quiet at night, the dark times had barely ended and members of the Ganesha familia still patrolled at night. The Astrea familia split up, some moved along the rooftops, some on the streets and side alleys. They were careful and had enough experience not to draw in unwanted eyes.

Ardee whispered loud.

"Alise."

Their captain stopped. "Hm?"

Ardee pointed at a patrol of the Ganesha familia nearby.

"Good idea."

Ardee moved to the front, Alise and Bell followed her, she knew the one who was leading this patrol, it was an amazon.

"Ilta."

"Ardee? And Astrea familia? What are you doing here?"

"A night raid. We got information that the Ishtar familia is up to something. Illegal and dangerous goods, as well as slave trading."

Ilta made a dark face. "I will inform Lord Ganesha."

"Lady Astrea is already moving to our home with two of us."

"Then I will go and tell big sis Shakti. You will surely need help."

Shakti had often enough forbidden Ardee or Ilta to call her big sis when they were on duty. Ardee still called her big sister like this and even when Ilta wasn´t related with them, for her Shakti was like the big sister of the whole familia.

Alise nodded. "That would be good, try not to draw in unwanted eyes. We have to be swift and have to catch them in the act."

"Understood, we will be swift."

Ilta´s eyes wandered to Bell. "You better protect Ardee with everything you have, otherwise big sis Shakti will hunt you down."

Ardee wanted to protest, but Bell was faster.

"I will protect her with my life, as I will all of them. I won´t allow anyone to hurt Ardee."

Ilta saw the burning determination in Bell´s eyes and how Ardee blushed, despite the situation.

"Good." Ilta winked and moved away from them.

"Mouh! I´m not some Damsel in distress!"

Alise nodded in the other direction, completly ignoring Ardee´s protest.

"Hurry, they will start in about twenty minutes."

Bell and Ardee followed Alise, Ardee still pouted and was upset.

Alise looked up to the sky. "You could say the clouds are on their side tonight or maybe on ours too. The moon wasn´t visible, thick clouds hang in the sky.

"Let´s hope it doesn´t rain, I don´t like getting all wet."

Maybe it was because Alise was literally more the fire type, but she really disliked getting wet in her armor. On the other hand, she enjoyed hot baths more than anyone else.

Soon they arrived in the area that Kaguya had described.

.

.

It was a warehouse, close to the walls of Orario. Nothing looked special, it was a warehouse like any other in the city. Even that isn´t wasn´t dark and they saw people moving around, carrying lanterns, this was all normal in Orario. Some people had to work at night.

Bell and Ardee remained quiet while Alise observed the situation from afar. There were a few reasons why Alise was the captain, right now she proved it again.

"They´re looking for possible intruders, the way the guards are moving shows it. They aren´t guarding the place, they look for dangers."

For Alise´s experienced eyes, the behaviour of the guards looked way too suspicious. There was also the fact that most of the guards were amazons. The Ishtar familia had their own territory and warehouses, but not one of them was in this part of the city.

"Follow me..."

They carefully moved closer, crouched down to not get spotted. Alise stopped so suddenly, that Bell bumped slightly into her from behind.

"Bell, now isn´t the time for that, wait until we´re home again."

"I wasn´t trying t-"

"Shht."

A group of guards passed them in a not so big distance. They didn´t follow a special rythm, Amazons disliked to to follow strict rules.

Just as they intended to get closer, two amazons turned around a corner and came right into their direction.

"Aishaaa, when are we done? This is sooo booooring!"

"Be quiet, Lena. Lady Ishtar gave us the orders directly."

"What are we even buying this time? More monster cor-Mufu!"

They saw the taller amazon moving quickly, grabbing the cheeks of the other amazon and squeezing them to silence her.

"Be quiet, you dumbnut! Don´t talk about secrets out here!"

"Forry..."

Aisha let go of Lena´s face again, then they continued to move.

"Huh?"

"What is it this time?"

"Aisha, there is someone there."

"Hoh?"

Aisha turned around and both got closer to the three members of the Astrea familia. But what they saw surely wasn´t what they expected. Bell, Ardee and Alise were mostly covered by their coats and hoods, but the two amazons saw weapons and armor parts poking out here and there. It was obvious that one of the figures was a man, the other two women. Said man was currently kissing both of the women in turns, the one that couldn´t occupy his lips was busy with his neck, while both of his hands were fondling and groping their butts. Ardee´s right hand rubbed along Bell´s crotch, Alise´s at his abs.

"Heh, looks like someone returned from the dungeon and is having a good time before going home."

Aisha put an arm around Lena´s head and covered her eyes with her left hand.

"What are you doing, Aisha?! Let me watch too!"

"You´re too young for that, kiddo."

"I´m not a kid anymore!"

"You´re not even a teenager. No means no."

"Mouh..."

Lena was what some would call precocious, then again she was an amazon and most of them were like that.

"Let´s leave them alone."

Alise, Bell and Ardee continued their play for a few more moments until Aisha and Lena were completely gone, then they stopped and got ready again. All of it had just been an act, they wouldn´t be able to get it on in a side street.

Still, Ardee couldn´t help but looking at Bell with a longing gaze for a moment. She squeaked slightly when she felt a soft chop on the back of her head.

"Keep your libido in check, Ardee. You can´t get horny here. Hah...it´s really like Kaguya said, it´s always the quiet and shy ones."

"I´m not horny, Alise!"

Ardee was a tiny bit ashamed herself about that, she got into the mood really often with Bell. And now even more that he had basically proposed to her, he just made her so happy and let her heart almost explode out of love!

Alise winked to Ardee to show her she didn´t mean anything mean with her comment. But now wasn´t the time for that.

"Bell, do you have your book with you?"

"Of course, Captain."

"Mouh, don´t tease me, Bell."

Alise didn´t like it when Bell called her Captain, she wanted him to always just say Alise.

Bell smiled, a smile that stole Alise´s heart again. "I´m sorry, Alise."

A pleasant shiver ran down Alise´s spine, he said her name with so much love. She was glad he was the guy she fell in love with.

The book that Alise meant was a pretty thick one, hanging from Bell´s belt. There were various stories written in there, it helped him with his magic to summon fables and legends.

He could use most of the spells without problems. Only three were really special. The first was to summon Cerberus, who would act like a guardian. Normally he could summon one of the legends every five minutes. But Cerberus could only be summoned for ten minutes every twenty-four hours.

The other eleven "Trials of Heracles" were not a problem for Bell, except that he often got pretty ferocious when he summoned the Erymanthian Boar or the Nemean Lion. Often when he summoned the Lion, he would suddenly grab one of his lovers and kiss her like a lion. The first time it happened it hit Ryu, the kiss was so intense that the poor elf fainted from that.

So far Bell only had the Trials of Heracles and two other legends to call upon.

But one of these legends were forbidden to use, since Bell had no control of it when he summoned it. The first time he called for it, a very tense incident followed, where most of his familia members got very upset because of him for the first time.

The other was the only legend that would even appear on it´s own sometimes, but only when Bell was in grave danger. This was by far the strongest and most dangerous legend and just like with the forbidden one, Bell had no control over it. Both strong legends consumed a very large part of his mind.

"Be prepared for everything, if the Toad is really there, it will become a hard fight."

"I am, Alise."

Their captain smiled pleased, then she gave Bell a quick kiss.

Ardee protested of course. "Alise, that´s unfair!"

"Captain´s privileges. I am allowed to flirt with Bell every time I see fit."

"That can´t be true!"

"Ask Lady Astrea if you want." Alise grinned.

"Mmh..."

"Hehe, if you do a good job at the night raid, I might allow you to occupy Bell for the whole night."

Bell looked a bit abashed. "Alise..."

Ardee´s eyes gleamed. "You can do that?!"

Alise chuckled. "Maybe? I don´t know. I mean you´re the legal wife after all, you occupy the poor Bell for most of the nights anyway."

"D-Don´t call me the legal wife!"

"But currently you are the only one with the status Fiancée."

Reminding her of this let Ardee beam in joy again and giggle like a little girl.

"Fiancée...ehehehe~~~~"

Alise slightly clapped her hands. "Alright, let´s focus again. Ardee you will use your healing and buff magic, but mostly defend yourself."

She didn´t say this because Ardee was weak, but Ardee´s sword Sacred Oath had a special magic effect, it would reduce the wounds she would inflict on a target as much as she wanted to. She never got past her problem to not kill people. In this special case, Ardee was the only truly pure one of her two familias. So far she never killed a person before, even Bell had to do that at some point during the fights.

Of course this didn´t stop Ardee from beating opponents down and inflicting heavy wounds when they would otherwise kill someone. But she couldn´t bring herself to kill a person.

"Understood."

.

.
They moved closer, a few guards were missing but currently no one had noticed this. Kaguya and Ryu attacked from the shadows, taking out small groups of guards without making any noise.

Eventually, Alise, Ardee and Bell managed to climb on top of the warehouse, there were no guards here. Maybe they didn´t really expect someone to sneak up on them and were just careful.

While Ardee stood guard, Bell and Alise carefully glanced through a window in the ceiling and witnessed the scene down below.

There was a large group of amazons from the Ishtar familia, led by Phryne. But also shady figures from somewhere else, some of them looking like bandits. There were boxes everywhere, some filled with weird stuff that they didn´t know what it was. Others filled with obvious dangerous items.

And there were cages...with people in it. Young people...young girls.

Alise felt how Bell´s whole body tensed up and he clenched his jaw. She could feel his blood starting to boil.

"Bell, wait a tiny moment, just a tiny moment and everyone will be in position."

He didn´t trust his voice not to shout in fury, so he just nodded, but had his hand on his sword.

Once again Bell showed why he had earned the alias Juggernaut. Alise couldn´t help but remember how they all had roared with laughter when Bell got his alias and Lyra had joked about it.

"Juggernaut? After that incident more like Juggernut."

Even Astrea couldn´t help but laugh.

Down in the warehouse, Aisha and Lena entered the building too. Aisha looked to the side at one of the cages. Golden hair and fur caught her eye, there was a small Renard girl in there, crying and shivering. Then she looked at the other cages. Aisha didn´t make herself illusions where these girls would end, but such was life. At least they weren´t dead, which was already something in this world.

At this point in time, Aisha was still pretty hard hearted and didn´t feel sorry for them. Lena saw the golden hair too, curious she jogged closer to the cage and looked at the crying girl.

"Hi!~~"

Haruhime shreeked and backed away in fear, not even when the merchant who bought her from her father got attacked by bandits was she that afraid. Her beasty nature took over her normal thoughts, Haruhime couldn´t help but cry, whimper and hope for a hero that would probably never come.

Meanwhile Phryne licked her lips in her usual way while looking at Haruhime.

"Lady Ishtar will be pleased with these goods. Rare girls like her will make fine profit. Gegegegege~~~~"

Haruhime went pale, she didn´t know what that giant person meant, but it surely was something nasty!

The toad-like amazon thundered closer to Haruhime´s cage and shoved Lena out of the way. Then she leaned down and stared right into Haruhime´s afraid eyes.

"Gegegege-!"

The ceiling nearly exploded.

.

.

Followed by a line of fire, Bell and Alise came down from the ceiling, both had already drawn their swords, Alise had activated her fire magic. Bell´s left hand was covered in fire, he held his firebolt on a hold. Alise had joked when she saw it for the first time, that this meant she and Bell were made for each other!

Bell let his firebolt loose and a wave of fire washed into all directions just a second before Bell and Alise landed on the ground. The flames rushed up, Bell´s cape waved behind him, with his full armor and helmet, he made a very heroic figure in this moment. Which a frightened Renard saw.

"You´re all under arrest, in the name of Justice!"

The doors and one of the walls exploded by her words and the rest of the Astrea familia rushed inside, immediatelly attacking the people in the warehouse. Chaos broke out and a huge fight started. As it was Bell´s job, he went with Alise in the direction of Phryne, they were the strongest members of their familia after all.

Since she was a true amazon, Lena Tally raised her sword and charged at Bell right away. His sword caught hers, he forced it to the side, then he dealt a straight punch into her stomach. Even when she was young, Bell wouldn´t hold back, but like this she shouldn´t get hurt too badly. Lena coughed loud, let her sword fall and broke down to her knees, holding her stomach. She landed in a way that she could see Bell from behind.

He had defeated her with just one punch. A man. A man had defeated her like nothing, a really strong man.

Lena Tally normally would´ve immediatelly fallen in love with him. But Bell missed the dangerous kick that attracted her, for Lena it felt like he had punched her like a gentleman.

Aisha found herself attacked by a stern looking elf with a green cape. A level four elf, that subconsciously vent out her stress of getting teased by Kaguya the whole evening on Aisha.

"What ar-!"

No words came from Ryu, she just attacked Aisha with her wooden sword.

"Don´t get cocky you shitty el-"

Aisha´s head snapped to the side when Ryu hit her with the dull side of her sword. Left, right, above, below, diagonally. Ryu´s sword came from all sides, beating Aisha to a pulp. The amazon´s blood roared like a volcano, she snapped and charged at Ryu with full strength, using everything she had.

But Ryu was a whole level above Aisha, had fought way stronger opponents in the past. Also, Ardee now shared the same blessing and she was close by, even casting her healing magic on Bell, Alise and her. So Ryu´s status grew even more. The fight against Aisha was more than just unfair.

Aisha eventually hit the ground, groaning.

"Stay down, amazoness."

"Curse you, shitty elf!"

Aisha tried to get up again, but Ryu beat her down again.

"Stay down."

Of course the amazon tried to get up again, but stopped when the point of Ryu´s sword was right in front of her eyes.

"Stay. Down."

Aisha tried to back away but she felt a sharp, cool cutting edge of a katana at her neck.

"Last waaaarning~~~~"

The far eastern beauty behind her sound like a cat that was playing with a mouse. Before Aisha could react further, Ryu trusted the dull part of her sword forward and knocked Aisha out. Both went for other enemies already, leaving Aisha to get chained by Ardee.

The fight was far from over, the Ishtar familia had some strong fighters too.

Like the one that Bell and Alise faced. Both were level four, even stronger than a normal level four, Bell due to his special status and Alise due to her skill. But Phryne was a fresh level five at this point and she was a monster. There was something in Phryne that awakened a primordial fear in Bell. The way she looked at him and then licked her lips let him shiver.

And while she looked at him like that, Phryne blocked Bell´s and Alise´s swords with both of her axes at once.

"You´re that Justice familia´s stud rabbit! I will show you a real woman! Become mine!"

Phryne licked her lips in a "seducive" way. "I will ride you until you´re all dried up!"

Bell got too afraid to answer, but Alise´s fire washed further up, she was enraged. Alise knew that Bell was a strong warrior, but against this "woman" he looked like a frightened baby bunny that got bullied by a giant toad. At least for a moment, Alise would make sure that Bell snapped out of it. And she was really good in doing these things!

Also she knew the most easy way to do it. There was one thing that Bell would always react to, when a woman was in danger, especially one of his lovers. And while Alise had her pride as a warrior herself, she loved the chivalrous side of Bell when he came to save them.

Alise attacked Phryne again, lines of fire followed her hands and legs. She was much faster than Phryne, but that monster had a brutal strength and endurance, she just tanked all of Alise´s attacks. It was thanks to Alise´s skill that she got stronger and didn´t just get overwhelmed by Phryne. The others were busy fighting their own opponents, also against someone like Phryne, it would be better if it were just Bell and Alise.

The red haired captain of the Astrea familia attacked Phryne from all sides, looking more and more like a burning tornado.

When Phryne countered with a fierce hack, she left a long, deep scratch in Alise´s chestplate, nearly cleaving it in half.

Seeing his beloved in danger, Bell didn´t shout or scream, he started to roar, like a lion!

.

.

Haruhime shivered in her cage, ever since her father had kicked her out, her life had become a mess, an endless pit of darkness. She didn´t know what would become of her, what would they do to her, she just wished it would all stop, that someone would save her.

The child had lost most of her hope already.

And then.

A light appeared.

A blinding, white light, from above.

Alise´s flames had and Bell´s magic had illuminated his pure, white armor. For Haruhime it looked like a heroic knight right out of one of her story books had appeared. She couldn´t see his face due to his helmet, but with the sword, the armor and the cape, he looked like a hero.

And when he finally roared and charged into battle against the toad monster, Haruhime´s eyes sparkled.

A hero!

She watched in awe and her ears perked up when she heard him shout something.

.

"Trials of Heracles!"

.
Heracles?! The famous olympian hero?!

The small Haruhime saw how two golden portals appeared on both sides of the toad monster. Out of the first slowly appeared the head of a giant bull, extremly massive and big.

Haruhime knew this bull from descriptions and a picture she saw in an old book once.

The Cretan Bull!

Out of the second portal appeared a boar like no other, equally big and massive to the bull.

Haruhime knew this one too.

The Erymanthian Boar!

Her fear was forgotten, Haruhime couldn´t believe she saw a myth coming to life in front of her eyes.

A third portal appeared, this time behind the white knight. Just like he roared, the head of the Nemean Lion appeared. The lion roared like Bell did, then it jumped forward and right onto Bell. All of the summons were made of light, the Lion splintered and fused with Bell´s armor.

Soon his helmet looked halfway like the Lion´s head, the paws at his gauntlets, the pelt on his cape. Bell wore the Nemean Lion just like Heracles had done in the legend!

Haruhime was so fascinated, her tears stopped for a moment and her tail wagged slightly from excitement!

She couldn´t know that a triple cast of his magic took a huge drain on Bell and would seal the active use of this magic for an hour, but against an opponent like Phryne, it was worth the risk.

The boar and the bull both charged forward from both sides of Phryne.

"Gegeh?!"

The sight how both enormous creatures smashed right into Phryne from both sides looked almost like a beautifully performed Lariat in a wrestling match! Except that both rammed Phryne right with their heads. Both versions of Bell´s spell increased their attack power when they rammed something big and tough.

Then Phryne grit her teeth and started to push back against the magic spell, screaming like an enraged toad. The scream hurt Haruhime´s ears, she pushed them flat against her head, covered them with her hands and shivered again, closing her eyes not to see what followed.

She still noticed that someone stopped next to the cage, but didn´t dare to look up. For Haruhime, the following fight was just a series of heavy blows, muffled screams and even slight explosions.

But it was better for the poor, pure girl not to see what exactly happened.

Otherwise she might be scared of the one that was about to become her shining hero. Even when he didn´t have control over what happened next.

.

.

Ryu was busy fighting other opponents when she heard the sound. The cursed sound that let shivers run down her spine. A sound that terrified all members of the Astrea familia. It were actually two sounds. One was Bell screaming in pain and...fear. And the other...what answered this scream.

Her head snapped around, all female members of the familia looked in horror at their beloved. Alise lay on the side, groaning and holding her probably broken ribs, while Bell dangled from Phryne´s hand, which was closed around his neck. With the other she was about to tear away his pants.

Ryu didn´t understand how this happened and how it happened so fast! Was Phryne Jamil really that strong?

The toad monster looked in confusion when the most terrifying sound of all started to sound. It was the very short warning that Phryne got, but the toad didn´t understand what it meant.

What was the sound of drums and string instruments, playing a certain melody.

The Astrea girls knew, this was one of the two forbidden versions of Bell´s magic getting triggered, a self defense mechanism that Bell had no control over.

Each of the two forbidden spells represented his heritage and legacy. The two familias that he was the single heir of. Hera familia and Zeus familia.

A portal appeared above Bell´s head, similar to the ones that came when he summoned the Trials of Heracles. But instead of gold, this one was black.

And out of the portal came a figure, another legend, one that only Bell knew the origin of.

At first one could see a black, goth style dress. Creamy white feet, a slender hand. Breasts of a size that let Ryu feel insecure, barely covered by the dress... Then came the head. It was obviously a woman, with closed eyes and a face that didn´t look gentle at all, except for when the figure turned to Bell for a moment. Two horns grew out of her forehead, the face was covered by a black veil, which was see through. Ash volored hair followed.

And then...

A single, ash colored dragon wing.

The last part that came out, was her right hand, holding a giant war scythe. And a dragon tail, equally ash colored.

The Slayer of the Leviathan. Mama dragon. Bell´s one winged angel, his guardian. It was a symbol that represented the Hera familia and their legend, but mostly Alfia, since she had been Bell´s first hero. When it had appeared for the first time, Bell had cried. The others never saw Alfia in the past, but this angel looked almost completely like her.

The Angel of Death and Silence consumed eighty percent of Bell´s mind to appear and it always did it when his life or in the current case his dignity was in danger. When his life was in danger for the first time, it felt like he was shouting into the realm of the dead...and something stared back and answered. This dragon angel would protect Bell at any cost, even if he fainted from it coming out and consuming too much mind.

Something as small as death would never stop the Silence from protecting her little boy, her beloved sister´s son!

"Gegeh?!"

Phryne looked up to the one winged angel.

There was no noise when the scythe fell down. Phryne couldn´t even scream, the scythe demanded silence and stole the last breath and scream of its victims. The blade of the scythe carved a deep wound through Phryne´s upper body, coming out of her hip.

The toad´s eyes widened, no blood was gushing out of the wound, the scythe just stole her life essence.

Phryne´s mouth opened and closed a few times, then her body collapsed and her eyes saw nothing anymore...

Bell looked in shock at first at Phryne, then at the One Winged Angel. The angel turned to Bell, then smiled slightly. Then...the angel looked at Bell´s lovers and made a displeased face. Somehow it didn´t like them...

Every amazon and thug that saw what just happened, immediatelly surrendered and dropped their weapons. Since all the threats were gone now, the angel went back into the portal and it closed.

Alise came wobbily up to her feet and staggered towards Bell, who still looked shocked.

"Bell, you okay? Irgh..."

"Alise!"

He moved out of instinct to help her. Thankfully the Ganesha familia arrived now and started to arrest the thugs and amazons.

Bell didn´t intend to kill Phryne Jamil, only to beat and arrest her. He would later learn how many crimes she comitted, how many men she raped, broke and killed. What a disgusting monster she actually was.

.

.
Haruhime still shivered with closed eyes and covered ears, even when the noises stopped. She just wanted everything to be over.

Something gentle tapped slightly against Haruhime´s tail. It wasn´t a finger, she could feel that. Haruhime dared to open one of her eyes slightly.

It was a tail.

A almost white, fluffy wolf tail tapped gently against Haruhime´s golden fox tail. She dared to look up a bit. A tanned werewolf woman crouched down next to her, outside of the cage and smiled a very friendly smile.

Neze pointed at her own ears and Haruhime slowly lowered her hands.

"It´s okay now, little one. We beat the evil guys, nothing will happen to you now."

"Eh?"

Neze smiled more. "I will open the cage now, alright? Please don´t get startled by the noise.

The werewolf put her strong hands on the door of the cage and after a second, the metal sprang open. She didn´t have the key, but the strength of a middle level three adventurer.

When the cage got opened, Neze moved a bit back, but knelt down in front of it, looking gently at Haruhime.

"You can come out n-"

Neze couldn´t finish her sentence, the small fox girl jumped out of the cage and into her arms. Haruhime still shivered, burried her face at Neze´s chest and started to cry, loud.

She cried from relieve and fear.

Neze looked surprised at first, then she carefully closed her arms around Haruhime and held the girl. It was strange, seeing and holding her like that touched Neze´s heart. It let her feel strong emotions like...like...a big sister maybe? Her tail curled slightly around, also hugging Haruhime and touching her tail. This was something that family members among werewolves did, but for Neze it felt just right.

She carefully got up and held Haruhime, letting her cry her heart out. Neze looked to the side, Alise got healed by Ryu and Ardee at this moment. Their captain smiled in slight pain, while Bell supported her from behind. Getting held by Bell was nice, Neze knew that.

The Ganesha familia released the other prisoners, they would take care of them. But the little girl in Neze´s arms, she refused to let go of her, maybe she felt safe there?

After a while, Haruhime calmed a bit down, she moved her head a bit away from Neze´s chest and looked up.

Neze smiled again. "Better now?"

Haruhime nodded slightly.

"I´m Neze, what´s your name?"

"Haru...hime..."

"That´s a pretty name."

"Thank you..."

Haruhime looked slightly to the side, where Bell stood in his full armor. She looked at him in wonder, he really looked like a hero!

"Hehe, this is Bell. He is one of us and thanks to him the evil toad monster got defeated and you freed."

"Is he...a hero?"

Neze´s smile showed affection, love and admiration. "Oh he is absolutely a hero."

Haruhime´s eyes sparkled. "Wow...a real hero."

Two members of the Ganesha familia covered Phryne´s body with a large tarpaulin, Neze didn´t feel bad about Phryne´s death. Just the uncontrolled nature of Bell´s spell worried them all a little.

Haruhime refused to let go of Neze, so the werewolf kept carrying her. There was something about Neze that calmed Haruhime down. Maybe it was her smell, beast people were sensitive to that. Maybe that Neze was also a beast person and as a wolf, similar to a fox.

Neze´s presence reminded Haruhime deep down of something that she missed and longed for, it couldn´t be compared to Haruhime´s mother, but it was like...having something familiar around herself. Someone who comforted her, like family.

While Alise took care of the really important things after she got healed, Neze kept Haruhime company. She sat down in a corner, letting Haruhime sit on her lap, the fox girl still refused to move away from the werewolf. Seeing this cute little one awakened the urge in Neze to protect her and care for her.

"Neze."

She looked up and smiled slightly. "Bell."

"Are you hurt?"

Neze shook her head. "And you?"

"No, I was lucky."

Haruhime´s hands clenched slightly into Neze´s top, she wanted to look at the hero, yet was a bit afraid. Bell eventually knelt down in front of them, resting on one knee.

"Are you hurt, young lady?"

Haruhime shook her head, but couldn´t look at Bell.

Neze smiled. "Maybe you should take off your helmet, Bell."

When Bell did that slowly, Haruhime peeked over her shoulder, a friendly face awaited her.

"You are..the hero?"

"I wouldn´t call myself that."

Neze snorted slightly. "But you are a hero. You saved all of our lives and did so much for Orario. If you´re not a hero, then who?"

"Alise?"

"Maybe."

"Kaguya? Ryu? You? Everyone else."

Neze leaned a bit closer to Bell, this way Haruhime also came closer to Bell, but the girl stopped to shiver.

"Accept a compliment for once, Mister."

"I will."

They chatted for a few moments, Haruhime´s eyes got big again when a certain woman entered the warehouse. Of course Astrea would come.

"Who is that?"

"Our goddess, Lady Astrea."

"So pretty..."

"Yes she is. And friendly, caring, gentle. The perfect goddess."

Haruhime followed Astrea with her eyes, there was something about this goddess that drew her eyes in. The way Astrea acted with her followers, something else that Haruhime longed to have. Astrea acted like a worried mother, of course she would.

The goddess noticed them sitting there, so she came closer.

"Neze, Bell, thank goodness you two are alright."

""Thank you, Lady Astrea.""

Haruhime looked with big eyes up to the goddess, Astrea crouched down when she looked at the young girl.

"Hello."

"H-Hello..."

"Are you alright?"

"Mh..."

"Did Neze take care of you?"

Haruhime just nodded.

"You don´t need to be afraid of me, I won´t do anything to you."

"Mh."

"I am Astrea, would you mind telling me your name?"

"Haruhime."

"A pretty name, Haruhime. You are safe now, nothing bad will happen to you."

"Mh."

Haruhime looked for a moment at Kaguya, the only person here who looked far eastern.

"Haruhime?"

"Yes?"

"Is your family in Orar-"

Astrea noticed that she made a mistake with her question when big tears poured out of Haruhime´s eyes. The young fox girl soon burried her face at Neze´s chest again and cried.

"Oh no..."

Neze patted Haruhime´s back and gently touched her tail with her own. Her mother had done that for her in the past so she hoped it would work.

She gently whispered and explained to Astrea Haruhime´s circumstances, when she sat down with Haruhime and chatted softly with her, Neze had asked about it. Astrea understood, Haruhime had no one, she was completely alone in the whole city and maybe world.

And apparently very attached to Neze and interested in Bell´s appearance.

Maybe things would´ve gone different, maybe not. In any case, a certain sentence would move Haruhime into a certain direction.

Ardee came closer and smiled brightly. "Bell, your fight was as awesome as always. You reminded me of Argonaut fighting against the Minotaur!"

Haruhime´s ears twitched up and her tail curled slightly. She looked with a wet face up from Neze´s upper body, the werewolf didn´t mind the tears and snot that stained her top.

"Argonaut?"

"Jup! Bell often reminds me of that story!"

"You know the story of Argonaut?"

"Of course I do, young lady. It is my favorite one!"

Haruhime´s ears perked up more. "Do you like hero stories?"

Ardee winked. "You bet! I know a lot about them. But not even as close as he does."

Ardee leaned with her left elbow on Bell´s shoulder when she said that. "There isn´t a story that Bell doesn´t know."

Haruhime looked with shining eyes at Bell. "Do you know the story about one thousand and one night?!"

"Of course I do, the stories of the desert princess are famous."

"And the hero Siegfried?!"

"Who fought against the black dragon Fafnir? Of course."

"A-And what was that magic you casted?!"

Ardee grinned. "Bell loves hero stories so much that he can summon old legends and tales."

"Waaah!~~" Haruhime´s tail started to wag and she looked genuienly happy for a moment.

Alise and the others came now closer to them.

"Lady Astrea, we´re finished. The Ganesha familia will take care of the rest. Lord Ganesha said they´re going to arrest Lady Ishtar, apparently somehow Lady Freya noticed the situation and offered her support. For the sake of a peaceful city."

In secret, even Alise believed that Freya offered her support for her own excitement.

Astrea nodded. "Thank you. Then we will return home now."

"And ahm..."

"Yes?"

"It looks like the banquet will be postponed for a week."

"Well that was to be expected."

Neze looked down to Haruhime, who still sat on her lap and was a bit intimidated by all these strong, young adults.

"Lady Astrea?"

"Neze?"

"Haruhime said she always wanted to come to Orario and see the wonders here...and maybe even the dungeon."

The goddess smiled gently. "Is that so?"

She crouched down again and looked at the fox girl. "Haruhime?"

"Y-Yes?"

Astrea smiled like a mother. "Would you like to come with us?"

Haruhime looked to the others, then up to Neze, who just smiled.

"Mh." The fox girl nodded.

.

.
Neze had to carry Haruhime most of the way to the Stardust Garden, not that the small girl was heavy for her. As long as Neze was close to her, Haruhime felt more relaxed, even more since Astrea walked next to them and talked softly with Haruhime.

When Neze´s arms got a tiny bit tired, Astrea offered to take Haruhime. The fox girl wasn´t against it, Astrea felt very gentle and motherly.

And when Haruhime suddenly hugged Astrea more, sobbed and said a single word, she instantly stole the heart of the Goddess of Justice.

"*hic* Mama..."

It took a while until Haruhime calmed down again.

The young girl then looked around in wonder, even gawking up to Babel.

"Woah!"

Astrea giggled. "It is your first time seeing it, right?"

"Yes! I only ever read about it!"

"Ehe, then it´s good you can enjoy it."

Haruhime noticed that her dirty clothes started to ruin Astrea´s white dress.

"I´m sorry...your dress...I..."

"It´s alright, Haruhime. There are just clothes. When we arrive at home, we will take you to the bath, okay?"

"But I don´t have spare clothes..."

Astrea´s eyes wandered to Lyra.

"Oy! I´m not a kid, just small, alright?!"

"I never said you are a child, Lyra."

"Just wanted to make things clear! Hah...alright, I will lend her some clothes. But I don´t have far eastern st-"

Kaguya smirked. "What about your kiddy sized kimono that you wore at the festival?"

"It isn´t kiddy sized! It´s pallum sized!"

"That´s the same."

"Screw you, Kaguya!"

Haruhime flinched a bit when she heard Lyra shout and looked for shelter in Astrea´s hug.

"It´s alright, Haruhime. They are like that often, don´t worry, they´re really good friends."

Haruhime looked at Kaguya again.

"Are you also from the far east?"

Kaguya winked. "Sure. Gojouno Kaguya, at your service, young lady."

Haruhime´s ears and tail went stiff. "G-G-Gojouno?!"

Kaguya smiled, not even she could bear with teasing such a small angel. "My loyalty only is with Lady Astrea and my familia. My clan means nothing to me anymore."

"Oh."

Kaguya even dared to gently pat Haruhime´s head one time. "So I won´t do anything bad to you, alright?"

The others were shocked.

Shocked!

Never before had Kaguya acted so genuienly nice and caring to someone!

When they arrived at their home, Haruhime´s eyes sparkled when she saw the house, all the flowers in the garden that gave it its name.

Since seeing so many people at once was a bit too much for Haruhime, only Neze and Astrea went into the bath with her. The fox girl got really attached to these two.

Thirty minutes later, while a few of the others went into the bath, Haruhime sat on one of the couches in the living room, a plate with a few snacks and a cup of tea in front of her, while Astrea sat to her right and Neze to her left.

When the others looked at her, Haruhime felt a bit taken aback again and looked for shelter again with Neze or Astrea.

But when Ardee came out of her room and showed Haruhime a book, telling her that Bell had much more, the girl beamed with joy. While the others weren´t so big fans of hero stories, they listened to the story that Ardee read for Haruhime.

At some point it was getting late and one by one, the others went to sleep. Neze and Astrea slept on the couch, Haruhime snuggled up to them, getting gently hugged from both sides, not wanting to let go of them. Neze would soon enough become a big sister figure for the ten years old Haruhime, while Astrea would in many ways become a mother figure.

At the next morning, Astrea would offer Haruhime something that would make this girl very happy.

A place in her familia.

.

.
While the Astrea familia returned safely, two shadowy figures each got offered a very high reward for hunting and killing a very dangerous, white haired criminal in the city. At least that´s what they got told. Both got this offer on their own, they weren´t people who worked in a team.

One of them had black cat ears and a tail, the other had "black fists".